The Blue King's Knight
by Runa Rose Dempsey
Summary: Be it as an oddly shaped puzzle piece, a knight on a chess board, or merely as his subordinate/clansmen, Munakata Reisi always knew from the get go that he had a place in the grand game/larger picture. A sort-of continuation to Saruhiko & Reisi's reunion in ROK.


_**So, I have to say, I'm pretty damn obsessed with K Project. I finally got around to watching it and subsequently spent a week devouring countless fanfictions, though I have to say there is woefully little surrounding Scepter 4 in general who I have fallen in love with. HOMRA is awesome too, but I personally enjoy Scepter 4's dynamic far more. Besides, total Fushimi fangirl here. I can unashamedly say I swoon every time I hear him say "MI~SA~KI~!"**_

 _ **So, this little story wasn't necessarily intended to be romantic by any means, though I will admit I'm more of a ReiSaru supporter than SaruMi despite the latter obviously being more popular in this fandom. Munakata is probably my second favorite of the show (not that I have a megane bias or anything…*cough*) and I loved his interactions with Fushimi in the show, manga, and stories that I read the translations of. He is such a damn manipulator though and I hope I kept him in character as I wrote this. This particularly story was born from my fascination with his character, my undying love for that crazy bastard Fushimi, and my wish that their reunion scene at the end of Return of Kings was longer.**_

 _ **So please sit back and hopefully enjoy this little one-shot I wrote up while procrastinating on finishing my other fanfiction that I really SHOULD be writing on. Lol.**_

 _ **And of course, I own nothing but the slightly vexed nurse unlucky enough to have to deal with a very grumpy Fushimi.**_

* * *

 _ **A Scepter 4 Anthology**_

 _The Blue King's Knight_

Munakata Reisi had a path.

It was an unenviable one, from certain stand points, and required the making of decisions even his most loyal clansmen wouldn't entirely approve of. Decisions like sending his young-but-capable third in command undercover on what could be seen, in certain ways, as a suicide mission. It actually amused Reisi somewhat, in those quiet moments of introspection in the days leading up to the fight, to imagine the scolding Awashima would no doubt deliver to him over it. While she wasn't quite as open with him about her opinions as Fushimi was, she was hardly what one would call reticent when she truly believed he was being foolish.

And while Reisi could and _was_ called many things, foolish was very low on the list.

His role as Scepter 4's captain and, more importantly, the Blue King was a role almost too perfectly suited for him given his personality. He was always quite aware of the big picture in front of him no matter how often he might look at the 'little pieces' currently in his hand. He _valued_ each one and appreciated the gifts each brought that only added a richness of detail to the picture he'd always known was there. In response to their dedication, he took extra pains to ensure each piece of his puzzle was placed in exactly the right place so they could be both utilized in the most optimum way possible, but also so that they were in the place they would flourish the best.

Some were easy – some were more difficult and had required more thought – but Reisi was nothing if not good at puzzles. He enjoyed the exercise in recognizing patterns and having everything fall as it should – of being able to see where the path ahead would lead and the most efficient way of reaching his next goal. He absolutely hated wild cards for that reason; their appearance only disturbed the natural order of things, though even they had a place if in the correct hand.

Fushimi was one such wild card. His piece of the puzzle was deceptive – like the outer edges of a large landscape that was made up largely of similarly colored pieces. It was the one cut in the oddest of shapes that looked as if it couldn't _possibly_ fit amongst the more traditional looking pieces…until it did, once more of the surrounding pieces fell into place and started unveiling the more subtle details to the pattern; showing their _place_. It required a lot of patience and thought to recognize it, but eventually its place became clear.

Reisi always knew the nature of Fushimi's place in the picture – his was the one that was usually amongst the last to be placed after countless false placements along the way. But as the picture began forming clearer and clearer as time went on, so too did Fushimi's place in this particular picture.

He didn't ever regret being able to see the overall big picture, but there were definitely down sides to it. Reisi could see those possibilities as clearly as he could the correct path – the alternate routes that would lead to less-than-optimal outcomes. JUNGLE and their fight against them was probably the largest picture he'd ever viewed – almost daunting in scale and the variety of places where they ran the risk of veering off course. It was his job as Blue King to ensure even if they did momentarily veer off course that there were safeguards in place to ensure they would eventually get back to where they needed to be. To do that, he needed _very specific pieces._

It never bothered him, thinking of it as a game. In many ways, it made making those hard decisions even easier. His clansmen were all ultimately pieces on his playing field, moving as his will dictated. If he was the King on the proverbial chess board, overseeing and somewhat limited in his movements, Awashima was the Queen, moving in whatever way or distance she deemed necessary to solve a problem before his interference was ever necessary – though it was always a very straight, linear route that was somewhat confined in how predictable it was. Others like Akiyama or Benzai were the rooks, moving straight ahead in the most efficient way possible. Some were like bishops; Enomoto and Domyouji came to mind there. They moved forward too, but in a way that wasn't quite the same as the others and could take other pieces by surprise because of their unorthodox way of moving. Many were still finding their ways – the pawns on his chess board that could potentially become anything. Reisi was loath to lose any piece, however, and to date had only lost one pawn in his grand game.

Then there was the knight.

It was, Reisi mused, his favorite piece on a chess board. It had an erratic movement pattern and moved forward, backwards, to the side…and often times jumped over pieces outright. It could stand surrounded by enemies one turn and actually remove itself unscathed to safety the next, if played correctly. With proper guidance and foresight, one could even set it up to topple a King.

Of all his subordinates, Fushimi was his only knight, always moving on the fringes of the board while the others more or less went straight in. His path was peculiar – going backwards when he was expected to go forward; evading or retreating outright when one might expect him to go for the kill, only to be snatched away in the next turn by an unwise player.

Suoh had been unwise with his young knight, ignoring the complicated piece on his board and letting it be snatched away in favor of using his more direct pieces. A more experienced knight, like Kusanagi Izumo, was fine, but someone inexperienced like Fushimi was left vulnerable in a situation like that. A gross error in judgement on the late Red King's part, in Reisi's estimation. While many of Suoh's pawns had evolved into perfectly good bishops and rooks under his guidance though, he'd seen from the get go that Fushimi was always meant to be a knight.

And Reisi was nothing if not fully aware of the value of a good, wisely used knight.

It could be said, of course, that he favored him a little too much. The amount of intrigue wrapped around this young knight in particular was as fascinating and peculiar as anything else, but even as he carefully studied his newly acquired piece, Reisi never lost sight of the overall board layout or his other pieces. It was because he took the time to study each worn edge and outward chip of his shell though that he actually ended up using Fushimi more than anyone, allowing him to gain experience and become the type of piece in his game that he always instinctively knew would be vital for him, one day.

Only to himself would he admit to some unease once it became clear on _how_ , however.

The decision to have Fushimi infiltrate JUNGLE by whatever means necessary had been immediate as soon as the thought that their plans could fail had occurred to him. It was a move that only a 'Knight' piece could perform and have the best chances of escaping. Reisi had judged his experience to be high enough that he _should_ be able to complete the mission reasonably unharmed despite it meaning he would be completely on his own, but there were always outside influences – wild cards not in his hand that he wouldn't be able to control – that could easily see his favorite piece snatched away from him in a more fatal way than his own move against Suoh had been. Thus, he'd set into motion various backups should unforeseen circumstances bar his path, though Reisi was sure it wouldn't be necessary. He had faith in Fushimi's ability to persevere and do what none of his other subordinates would be able to do.

Awashima could, of course. In some respects, she was more open with her thoughts to him than Fushimi was. Theirs was a peaceful working relationship, however, of mutual understanding and even respect. While she _could_ argue with him, for her to be so enraged as to quit would be too far out of character to be believed. And anyone from his clan trying to infiltrate JUNGLE would be suspected of being a spy from the get go.

Getting one of the young men of the Special Unit he'd personally put together to even argue against him would've required a monumental effort of Herculean proportions alone, never mind start a fight so laden with disdain and vitriol that even _he'd_ forgotten for a moment that it was all an act. A very good, flawlessly initiated act and he'd unintentionally gone for the jugular more harshly than he'd ever initially intended, though the outcome had been what they desired in the first place – made all the more believable, even, by the momentary lapse. His own people believed Fushimi had left and turned traitor, finally fed up with Scepter 4, their rules, and most importantly, their king.

" _ **So you're just going to sulk all because you got your ass kicked in a one-on-one fight?"**_ He'd never appreciated how Fushimi's tone of voice could project emotion despite his inability to cope with said emotions and get even under _his_ skin. Until that moment, Reisi had never had that disdainful tone shot his way. A politely annoyed one, certainly. An unmotivated drawl, almost always. But not this disdainfully mocking tone that practically ripped across his pride like a rake. The bit about the Gold King had been a shot in the dark, albeit a little too finely aimed a one. Reisi didn't appreciate being surprised or thrown off balance in such a way and that, combined with _that tone,_ had made his own angry tone real in response.

" _ **You must be very pleased with how this all turned out. After all, you were against this alliance from the start. Are you glad that the plan has failed?"**_

" _ **Oh yeah…as well as the fact that you lost!"**_

That was another sharp gash against his pride. Reisi always knew he was a proud individual, but he'd never let it speak for him. The fight should've concluded with him just telling him to leave, but his pride was a thing in and of itself that Fushimi's toned naturally picked at like a scab. As the Blue King, Reisi had made it a point to never purposefully hurt or force his clansmen to do anything that went against their own moral code. He was still human at the end of the day, however, and his pride wanted to sting his subordinate the way he was stinging and he knew _exactly_ what would sting him the worst because he'd studied every chip on this piece's surface in detail until it was practically memorized in his brain. His fingers twitched and he bowed his head slightly, his lips moving almost on their own even though Reisi knew it ran the risk of shattering something all too fragile that he wanted to believe he'd managed to form with his prickly third-in-command up until that point.

A fragile, almost tentative trust, or at the very least respect.

" _ **You're used to being a traitor, anyway."**_

He didn't need to see his face to know he'd achieved the reaction intended, but there was no sense of victory to it. Reisi felt no remorse in doing what he had to for the sake of order, but this wasn't something necessary to the intricate game they were playing to maintain the natural order of the world. _This_ was his pride speaking for him and breaking one of the few rules he'd staunchly maintained for himself by making one of his clansmen hurt because he _could_.

" _ **If you don't like something, you quit."**_ There was so much more to it than that – he _knew that –_ but Reisi couldn't very well stop and apologize and undermine the careful plan they'd both agreed upon, should tonight's plan fail as it had. So he pressed on, finishing what his pride had started, though it brought him no actual pleasure to do so.

He was never the kind of person to do things halfway.

" _ **Isn't that the kind of person you've always been? That's why you could never commit yourself to one king. But you also couldn't remove yourself from the Slates' influence. So you just wander around aimlessly in your small world."**_ He looked up, though the disdainful expression he aimed at Fushimi was more for himself at allowing his pride to overtake him, however briefly. " _ **Pathetic."**_

He had a flair for the dramatic, Fushimi did. Were he not feeling so genuinely annoyed with himself, Reisi might've smiled behind his interlocked fingers as he stabbed his sabre into the door and hung his uniform coat on it like a glorified coat rack.

There was no point in lamenting what he couldn't take back – especially since it'd worked only too well as the Special Unit stared between them both wide-eyed and in shock – so Reisi pressed forward as planned, reminding himself that much of this backup plan hinged on his third-in-command at the moment. He had faith in Fushimi's abilities that he would be able to infiltrate JUNGLE's central command quickly and efficiently.

Reisi was not ignorant to the fact that his Sword of Damocles was deteriorating though – and at a rate that, compared to Suoh's, was decidedly faster. Likely the effect of trying to contain the Slates' influence on the world, he figured. It wasn't even out of the range of possibilities that he, himself, might die in the upcoming fight. The burden of killing a king wasn't one he could bring himself to put on any of his subordinate's shoulders though and least of all Awashima, who was still his most loyal supporter, or even his prickly third-in-command who he might very well have already consigned to die as well, if unforeseen circumstances ended up playing out while he was in JUNGLE alone with only his experience to guide him.

Zenjo Goki had been the most obvious choice to have around for the job, under the guise of having him fill in some of the large shoes that Fushimi's absence left along with five others. It was a testament, Reisi noted wryly in the days before he'd been asked to resign, in how accurate he'd been in his first assumptions that Fushimi would fit perfectly within Scepter 4's ranks. The very first day after his resignation had seen all the divisions almost drowning under the reports, data, and paperwork that up until then Fushimi had taken care of just because it was simply "easier to do it himself". Word of his abandonment to JUNGLE had made it worse, striking at morale in a way his resignation alone hadn't. Only Reisi knew the truth going into that final fight as he did, reassured by Zenjo's presence that should his Sword of Damocles fall, he would do as asked and prevent a Damocles Down from occurring.

Reisi knew even before he saw the outer doors of JUNGLE's base opening that his lone knight piece was still very much in play.

So it was with calm assurance that he waited at the edge of JUNGLE's base entrance even after the fight was done, only partly listening to the bustling chatter as Akiyama did a commendable job rallying Scepter 4 as its acting captain and kept track of all the incoming updates from the various teams over the radio. Despite resigning her position in an appreciated and unsurprising show of loyalty, Awashima was still very much his lieutenant, instinctively reverting to barking orders when Akiyama clearly began getting overwhelmed.

It was with utter confidence that he waited at the edge of that gaping hole that would become JUNGLE's grave, but even he had to wonder if he'd failed Fushimi one last time as his King as the ground beneath them began rumbling and he ordered Awashima to have everyone evacuate. Objectively, the mission was a success. Whatever the results of the Dresden Slates being destroyed would be, he could still feel the power of a king deep within him; for the moment it seemed as if he was still the Blue King, though it no longer felt like that power was threatening to burst from his very body despite his best efforts. It was quieter, as if someone had turned a dial to lower the volume on a radio.

It wasn't as much of a success personally, however, if it meant this dismal hole was also the grave for one of his _own people_. Kusuhara Takeru's death had been unfortunate and a tragedy, but in a way had served as a unifying force for the then-new Special Unit. Melding such disparate personalities into a cohesive elite force was no small task. In that respect, his death had at least served a purpose, though it didn't erase the fact that it was still his failure, as Kusuhara's King and superior officer, that he hadn't kept his subordinate safe. It was a blow, certainly, but one he'd also learned from.

This loss would be worse and left a rancid taste in his mouth to even consider it, but Reisi was nothing if not a realist. It was ironic, really, that it would also be a blow to his pride ten times worse than Fushimi's jabs during that farce of a fight when he'd last seen him. He'd gone over every contingency and scenario he could think of, but there was always a chance he'd perhaps missed something.

The feeling of resignation clawed at him, threatening to swallow him as he deflated slightly, looking down into the darkness below. Failure was a bitter pill to swallow on the best of days; Reisi could count on one hand the number of times he'd ever _truly_ failed. Had he been too arrogant, believing as he did in Fushimi's abilities despite him being so young, as he'd once chided Awashima for being when she'd suggested Suoh's escape had been her fault?

He could not, much as he might desire to, stay here forever. Beneath his feet, hallways were crumbling as support structures gave way and posed a more immediate danger to those in the immediate vicinity. He still had many other clansmen who were too injured to evacuate on their own or were helping said clansmen move; he still had a responsibility to _them_ and Reisi wouldn't shirk that duty, though turning away would, effectively, mean he was accepting that his 'knight' was lost to the darkness below, shattered into dust under concrete and rebar.

His left foot turned to move when he felt a tingle on the back of his neck and the soft whistle of what sounded almost like an elevator rising. His eyes widened slightly, and for a second he questioned whether the exhausted and slightly annoyed face he'd grown fond of in the last four years was actually there or just a figment of his imagination given the most recent direction of his thoughts.

"…Mission accomplished, sir." How such a boy could project exhaustion, annoyance, irritation, and boredom all in one borderline-laconic tone was still a mystery even to him. Reisi felt himself relax as he smiled at Fushimi, said expression prompting him to click his tongue and turn his head away. Overly sappy greetings or emotional overtures of any kind were poorly met, so he settled on the only response he could think of that wouldn't have his prickly third-in-command get too annoyed after such a tiring day.

"Well done."

They fell into a quiet sort of stalemate at that point, his earlier concerns disappearing as if they were never there. It was only when he heard the rushing of feet that he looked up and met Awashima's cautiously relieved face that he realized Hirasaka was no longer their only audience.

"Fushimi?" Awashima took a step forward, only to halt herself as she frowned, confusion evident in the creases of her face. Though she had some of the most entertainingly chilling ideas sometimes, the woman who was his right hand took care of their people with a warmth that only the impercipient couldn't see was always there underneath her otherwise stern demeanor. Behind her stood the rest of the Special Unit at various states of attention. Reisi found it quite amusing that Fuse actually had his hand on the hilt of his sabre, though he hadn't drawn it and looked a bit troubled as his eyes jumped from him to Fushimi and back again, clearly assessing the need for it.

Fushimi narrowed his eyes briefly before looking down with a soft, "Tch." Hanging as heavily on the JUNGLE operative as he was, it was easy to understand the impression it was giving off, though it was hardly the right time to dive into the specifics of his mission.

"I've retrieved him for you as requested." Hirasaka's even tones broke through the uneasy silence, phasing through the ground the rest of the way. Reisi narrowed his eyes as he saw the blood staining his subordinate's jeans and continuing to soak through it actively from the looks of it. She glanced at him briefly before untangling herself from his arm to let him stand on his own, bowing briefly his way. "With this, I trust our business is concluded?"

"For now," he noted idly, smiling, and she narrowed her eyes briefly at him before nodding and disappearing. He held up a hand before anyone could move to detain her, shaking his head once. "Perhaps we should move to a safer location? Much of the underground network has become quite unstable, Awashima-kun."

"Yes, Captain. All non-essential personnel has been evacuated to a safe distance." Her eyes flickered to Fushimi, concern trumping confusion as she too noted his leg. "You should get that treated, Fushimi."

"I'm fine." His child-like petulant tone lacked some of its usual bite, however, turning to stare down the hole much as he'd been doing just moments before with an annoyed click of his tongue. "Captain?"

"Hnn?" Reisi smiled, watching the perplexed reactions; Fushimi's way of addressing him hadn't been lost on them.

"Please pay to replace my stock of throwing knives," he dead-panned before he let out an annoyed sigh and he actually _pitched forward_ , his legs giving out from under him. Reisi reached out and grabbed him before he could, of course, sighing in amused exasperation as Fushimi went limp, hanging under his arm like a sack of rice.

"Captain?" Hidaka actually came up without prompting, wordlessly helping take some of the unconscious Fushimi's weight as he slung his arm over his shoulders much as Hirasaka had. Being far taller than the ninja girl at well over six feet, he could support Fushimi's 5'10" height much easier in comparison.

"I will explain back at headquarters," he assured him, though his words were more directed at his right hand woman more than anyone since she was getting something of a narrow-eyed vexed look on her face. Awashima was a smart woman and more than capable of putting two and two together to make four, though he suspected there would be a very long conversation with his lieutenant in his imminent future. If he was lucky, Fushimi might even fell well enough to join in on it.

Just to keep it interesting, of course.

* * *

Though small, the medical facility within Scepter 4's compound were quite advanced – leagues ahead of the average city hospital, which was part of his reason for taking Fushimi there rather than the much closer local hospital. It was also familiar to him, which proved to be something of a wise call when he woke up several hours later with a start and promptly threw his lone remaining knife at the assistant who'd had the misfortune of treating him.

He heard about this commotion just minutes after getting off of a video call with the prime minister who, somewhat reluctantly, reinstated him as the head of Scepter 4. His first task had been to officially decline Awashima's resignation, who'd merely smiled and accepted it without batting so much as an eyelash before returning to the task at hand of coordinating their somewhat scattered divisions. Though they weren't in as bad a shape as when he'd first found them almost 5 years ago, a lot had been ignored in the brief and frustrating hours in which the Prime Minister had technically been in charge of his people.

Reisi was actually about to return to his office and go over the extent of the disorder in detail when Enomoto actually came running and blurted, "Fushimi-san's awake and causing a commotion in the infirmary, Captain!"

"Perhaps I should've let Jounouchi-sensei give him the sedative after all," he sighed with a slight smile, turning on his heels to proceed to the medical wing.

He was only slightly surprised that the normally nervous Enomoto actually called out after him, "Ano, Captain? About Fushimi-san…?"

Explanations had been put on hold, of course, until the disarray could be properly fixed. "Worry not about Fushimi-kun, Enomoto-kun," he promised, smiling reassuringly at the young man who relaxed visibly and nodded. "It is quite pleasing to see everyone so worried about him, though."

"It wasn't the same…without him." He scratched the side of his face sheepishly. "Daiki might not admit it, but we all got used to how he works. I almost kind of missed getting scowled at…not that he'd be happy to hear something like that admitted, though."

Reisi laughed quietly despite himself, "No, probably not," and continued down the hall with long, purposeful strides. The infirmary was a small building set between the dorms where most of his people stayed and the office itself and he knocked once before opening the door, his smile never wavering as a knife crackling with green lightning subsequently embedded itself in the wall only inches from his face. "Feeling better, I see."

Indeed, Fushimi seemed to be in fine form, eyes snapping in irritation as he stared at him and held out his arm that very clearly had an aura-nullifying cuff on it, the other restraining him to the bed rails quite soundly from the looks of it. "Please fix this, Captain" was all he said in his usual politely annoyed tone, though it definitely had a little more annoyance in it than usual.

"Protocol 94 dictates any potentially hostile strain or opposing clansman brought in for treatment are to be put in aura-nullifying restraints," the nurse sighed, looking hopefully at him as if to say, _"Please do something about this, Captain."_

"She is correct, Fushimi-kun," he noted amusedly, nodding. "As you are technically not a member of Scepter 4 at the moment."

Fushimi narrowed his eyes behind his glasses, outright glaring at him, and stayed silent for several long moments before he muttered darkly, "You've really got a twisted personality, Captain."

Reisi laughed outright, further scandalizing the young nurse who he held his hand out to. "I do need to speak with Fushimi-kun in private. It will go much easier if he isn't busy glaring and scowling at me the entire time."

She opened her mouth, instinctively wanting to object, but clearly she thought better of it and merely dropped the key to the cuffs into his hand with a muttered, "Please be careful, Captain," before departing.

Without a word, he tossed the key to Fushimi who caught it with his free hand, unlocking the cuffs and narrowing his eyes at his wrists as the auras flowed thru him normally again. It was intriguing to see he actually still retained some of the green aura as well as his blue and red ones; he'd been curious to see if they would be cancelled out, as most were when people changed clans. Not so, in his case. "How are you feeling?"

"Well enough to return to work," he grumbled. Fushimi never was the kind of subordinate who liked being inactive.

"Oh? Did you want to? Return, I mean." He walked over and grabbed the throwing knife embedded in the door frame, eyeing it thoughtfully. It was the same one that had rebounded and struck him in the thigh, causing the injury that had made Fushimi lose enough blood to actually faint. It was the only one remaining of the knives he routinely kept on his person that, as he recalled, were the only other relics he'd kept from his days in HOMRA aside from the tattoo…though the latter hadn't been for lack of trying to be rid of it. "You are, of course, free to remain as you are."

It was nothing short of a prod for a reaction, mostly to satisfy his curiosity. Reisi always found he tended to have the most amusing responses to such questions – and never the ones he anticipated. Like now, for instance. Fushimi's blue eyes stared at him hard for several long moments, as if gauging an enemy, before he scoffed and stormed over to where he was, snatching the throwing knife from his grasp and began twirling it almost unconsciously with irritable flicks of his wrist. "Please stop saying such ridiculous things, Captain."

That piqued his interest. "Oh?" He motioned for Fushimi to go sit back down so he wouldn't stress himself, pulling a chair to the side of the bed so he could sit as well. Though he gave him an annoyed look for being treated a bit like a child, he did do as beckoned, sitting cross-legged on the bed with a slight defensive hunch of his shoulders and a completely uncomfortable feeling to his posture that made it easy to remember he was only just 20 years old and probably about half that emotionally. "I was under the impression you find it quite irritating to be here?"

"It is when you do stuff like this," he groused staring off to the side with a scowl. "You shove paperwork onto others, have a lieutenant trying to routinely poison people with anko-flavored _anything_ on a given holiday, and clansmen who use _stick figures_ to write reports _as if they explain anything_."

He'd actually seen one such report, back before he'd given Fushimi the job of managing the post-mission debriefs. Reisi found it rather amusing, actually, though he did agree they didn't actually explain anything. "Sounds horrible," he noted pleasantly, lips hidden behind his interlocked fingers as he leaned forward and watched him carefully. For Fushimi, it was a surprisingly open response. "One wonders why you would want to return a place like that and such a…an _indolent_ king." The last bit he stressed with no small amount of amusement, ignoring the irate click of his tongue that his tone inevitably prompted, head bowed as he glowered at the sheets beneath him.

"…It's not the worst place I can think of." His muttered response was so low, Reisi wasn't entirely sure Fushimi even actually spoke at first. Were it not for the fact that his level of discomfort skyrocketed even higher, he would've passed it off as being just his own imagination.

Reisi didn't actually try to hide his smile this time, a pleased chuckle escaping him. "High praise, coming from Fushimi-kun." Without another word, he reached under the bed and pulled out Fushimi's sabre, setting it gently across his lap. "You were quite missed, Fushimi-kun. The others have been surprisingly anxious about you."

"Idiots," he sighed, though Reisi couldn't help noting it lacked any real heat to it. "The level of idiocy here is only slightly less annoying."

"Your clansmen will be thrilled to hear it," he noted, ignoring the scowl Fushimi shot him in response, "As will I when you tell us all about your time in JUNGLE at the emergency meeting we will have once you feel better." Standing up, he only smiled in the face of his subordinate's positively horrified expression. "Now I really should be getting back to it before Awashima-kun gets too vexed with me."

" _Please don't make such troublesome decisions on your own, Captain,"_ Fushimi ground out, grimacing at whatever thought crossed his mind.

"Ah, but it's not troublesome at all, Fushimi-kun," he assured him, ignoring the dark look on his face that suggested he was sorely regretting his decision to return already. "Such occasions also call for a celebration of sorts as well, no? I will speak with Awashima-kun so that we can arrange the proper festivities."

" _Don't burden yourself with such thoughts, Captain,"_ Fushimi stressed, looking less than pleased at the prospect. _"I_ _ **insist.**_ _"_

He was already out the door, of course. Fushimi looked apt to chase after him, but despite having his usual vigor he _was_ still recovering from significant blood loss and clearly knew better than to attempt to run after him. Reisi made it back to his office within minutes, though he took a minute to stand in the middle of it and just breathe for a moment, soaking in the comfortable familiarity of it. The half-done jigsaw puzzle, the chess board with his specially ordered blue and red pieces in the corner…

"Ah." Several of the pieces had been knocked over, it seemed, and he righted them up one at a time until he held the last toppled piece – the blue side knight that Reisi stared at for several moments before setting it into the C6 position, on the King's left, while the Queen stood unwaveringly in C8. They were the completely wrong placements for those respective pieces according to the traditional setup, but he smiled slightly as he left them like that and moved to his desk, grabbing at the nearest report.

Wrong or not, the pieces were exactly where he wanted them to be.

* * *

 _ **That was more in depth about jigsaw puzzles and chess pieces then I ever wanted to think about, but I can totally see Reisi thinking of people in terms of chess pieces. He is probably one of the world's best manipulators, I swear! Reisi always struck me as someone who does take great pride in everything he does…and probably rarely ever has plans of his go awry because he seems the type to have multiple backups in place…you know, just in case. And I swear, most of the time it seems like Reisi just REALLY likes to mess with Saruhiko out of a genuine fondness for him, regardless of whether it's romantic or simply as superior/subordinate. I can't see him ever apologizing outright for what was said during that fight either, nor do I think Saruhiko would ever accept such a unnerving thing, but offering to let him go seems like something I think Reisi might do despite Saruhiko being his "favorite" piece. And while he might one day figure out a way to tell Reisi that he's HIS only King, in this particular time, "It's not the worst place I can think of," is honestly the closest someone with Saruhiko's issues could probably manage at that point.**_

 _ **One day, though.**_

 _ **Maybe I'll even write another short about it once I finish my Hakuoki fanfiction. I have a few Scepter 4 drabbles I wouldn't mind fleshing out when the mood strikes. Whether you want to view this as a "ReiSaru" or not, though, I will leave for your interpretation. I will say, however, that I wrote this without intending it as such.**_

 _ **Anyway, hope you enjoyed and feel free to let me know your thoughts – especially on their characters. I'm trying like hell to keep them in character and I hope I managed to do a passable job with that.**_


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